Chapter Twenty-Seven
Winnie clawed and kicked with everything she had toward the surface, but the cinder blocks had already snapped the chains tight. This wasn’t like the first time, mere days ago. Lila’s second attempt to kill her was going much more to plan, and there was nothing she could do to fight it.
A waterlogged scream burned as freezing liquid drove down her throat, but no one would hear her down here.
No one would find her, just as Lila had planned.
Adrial wouldn’t know anything was wrong after the way they’d left things, and Winnie wanted nothing more than to rewind time to go back to that moment he’d laid behind her in that bed.
Well, that, and to be able to breathe. Priorities.
The chain cut into her ankle, rubbing against the sensitive bone on the side, and stole her last air reserves.
The hole above her was growing so small, so out of reach.
How much farther would she fall? Her fingers hurt, her feet locked in place.
The cold was doing its best to suck the life from her. And she couldn’t breathe.
A tremor jarred her from the spiral her thoughts had taken.
The chain had slackened. The cinder blocks had hit rock bottom.
A pale watery circle barely registered through the dirt and gloom living under the sheet of icy glass overhead.
Winnie grabbed for the chains and pulled with everything she had.
Because if she didn’t, she was going to die here, but they wouldn’t budge.
She’d always prided herself on training for strength and function rather than aesthetics, but the blocks were too heavy, fear draining her energy from every pore.
She tugged again. And again. One of the blocks tipped to the side and trapped a section of chain underneath, cutting off her range of motion.
It was no use. Bubbles escaped up her throat, as though the water itself demanded payment for her presence.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her mind quieted in much the same way it had over the past few days around Adrial, but this…
This didn’t feel the same. This felt empty and cold and dreadful.
But he’d felt solid and warm and strong and…
hopeful. He’d given her hope. Real hope that’d kerneled in her chest and bloomed in a matter of days.
That she didn’t have to accept the leftover scraps of her life and make something of it.
Heaven knew, she’d survived enough to host an entire daytime talk show for seasons on end, but that didn’t mean she had to keep accepting survival as the only way forward.
She could do more. Be more. Have more. He’d given her that.
Showed her what it might taste like to have real happiness like she’d felt at that quiet dinner table seated across from him.
No expectations. No demands or performances. Just being.
Her eyes closed without her permission, but she wasn’t panicked.
Releasing her hold on the chains, Winnie let herself drift.
The lulling beat of her heart kept her company, soothed her strained nerves.
The sway of the water settled something deep in her that’d missed the days when her mother had rocked her to sleep and hummed that lullaby whenever she was sick.
She couldn’t even feel the bite of the cold anymore. That was good, right?
The sway got a little more aggressive, but she couldn’t make herself care.
All she’d done her whole life was care too much.
About taking care of herself and her father because he wouldn’t do it himself, about staying on the good side of the bullies at school, which had never worked, and about Dan and whether or not he loved her as much as she loved him.
He hadn’t. But she couldn’t care anymore.
For once, she needed someone to care about her.
Adrial had. He’d taken care of her. He’d helped her with the investigation against all the reasons he shouldn’t have, saved her life by putting his own at risk.
He’d worked around her panic by giving her clear instructions to shower, eat and rest, knowing that was the most efficient way to get through her own destructive thoughts, and he’d tried to save her relationship with her dad by not taking her only living parent from her.
She’d accused him of doing it to save himself—his career—and maybe some of that was true, but Adrial wasn’t the kind of person to put himself first. He never had been.
Not with leaving Black Hollow or working his wife’s murder investigation or going against his values to solve the case of the very man who’d broken his trust all those years ago.
And that made her sad. That she wouldn’t get to tell him she hadn’t meant it, that she’d been angry and shocked and felt a little bit betrayed he’d kept the truth from her.
But she understood. Forgiveness was for the forgiver, but understanding?
That went deeper, that felt like warm hands sliding around her waist and holding her up.
Felt like the press of a mouth against hers and a rush of air coursing down her throat.
It felt so real.
She’d gone her entire life starving for that kind of love—from sources who would never change, never make an effort—but Adrial had given it so freely. It was easy to imagine that warmth came from his hands, that pressure on her mouth came from him. Even when it couldn’t possibly be true…
Something tugged at the chains secure around her ankles, and she dragged her eyes open at the bite of pain.
A dark shape materialized around her feet.
Another tug shocked her back from the invisible edge of unconsciousness, and she blinked against the cold flood of murky water in her eyes.
She wasn’t imagining things. Grabbing for the mass of dark hair near her knee, she brought the face level with hers.
Recognition flared, then a jump in her pulse.
That intense dark gaze that had starred in so many memories and dreams stared back.
It was him. He was here. How? Callused palms framed her jawline, and he pressed another sweet kiss to her mouth.
In an instant, Adrial was gone. Or maybe she’d closed her eyes.
It was really hard to tell when her brain was slowly freezing to death.
The pulls and grips on her ankles jolted her fully awake.
The killer had secured each end of the chains with padlocks, one set at her ankles, the other around the cinder blocks.
There was no getting through that, and Adrial would drown himself trying.
He needed to get to the surface. Save himself.
But instead of responding to her attempts to pull him away, Adrial hefted one of the cinder blocks.
And slammed it down on the other. The impact wasn’t as jarring as it would’ve been above the surface, but Winnie swore she saw a crack splinter through the block.
He brought the block down on the other. Twice.
Three times. The cinder block broke in half, and the chain was free.
Tendrils of darkness seeped into the edges of her vision as he attacked the second block with the broken half of the first. It took everything she had to keep her eyes open, her body shutting down faster now. A lightness she’d never felt flooded through her.
Anchoring her hand in his, Adrial kicked for the small hole beaming through the water, dragging her upward.
Away from that watery grave where no one would remember her.
Within seconds, he broke through the surface and hefted himself free of the water, all the while keeping his hold on her.
The whitewashed world blurred as Adrial hauled her onto the ice, his front pressed to her back.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. I’m here. ”
She believed him. Believed in him. Winnie couldn’t feel her body, couldn’t get it to obey any commands.
Her head dropped back as he shifted her into his arms, taking the rest of her body with it.
Water choked her for a split second as it evacuated her lungs and stomach, thundering coughs keeping her immobilized.
Movement registered from over his shoulder.
She gripped his shirt, lips barely able to form one word. “Lila.”
Adrial rubbed heat into her arms as he laid her out on the ice. Grabbing for her chin, he angled her face toward his. “What did you say?”
Winnie strained to talk louder. “Behind…you.”
Understanding hit. He turned just in time to bring his good arm up and block the downward stroke of the blade in Lila Mercer’s hand.
“Seriously.” She kicked him square in the chest, sending Adrial sprawling across the ice. Out of reach. “Why can’t you people just die already? It would make my life so much easier.”
The killer took the momentary paralysis to straddle Adrial across the hips and bring the knife up a second time.
Winnie’s heart stopped in her chest. Literally or metaphorically, it felt the same, but Adrial dodged the strike—the knife buried in the snow near his head—and bucked Lila Mercer off him.
They rolled near the growing fragile hole in the center of the ice, almost going in.
Winnie groaned against the pain ricocheting through her veins. Not just her muscles and joints and limbs, but in her very blood as though it’d solidified some in the minute or two she’d been lost to the lake. She rolled onto her front, digging her nails into the ice for purchase.
A hard thud registered as the killer’s fist connected to Adrial’s face, but his kick forced Lila’s knee to overextend. Her scream and the visceral crunch of bone chilled Winnie straight to the core.
Winnie put everything she had into her forearms, crawling toward the duo fighting for dominance.
Adrial was double Lila’s size, but the killer more than made up for it with skill.
Slicing the blade horizontally, Lila Mercer carved a slash into Adrial’s face.
Blood splattered across Winnie’s face a split second before Adrial hauled their attacker upright and tossed her over his shoulder.
Lila landed hard, another bone cracking. Or was it the ice? Winnie couldn’t tell as she slid her knees under her. Every cell in her body refused to work right, and getting to her feet was costing her precious energy, especially with the chains still holding her back.
The killer threw a punch, rocking Adrial back. She didn’t hesitate. Lunging after him, Lila Mercer brought down the knife.
And hit something fleshy.
Winnie’s entire world imploded as blood pulsed from the new wound in Adrial’s already injured shoulder.
Her own scream took on a life of its own as she closed the distance between her and the killer.
Fear drove her to grab for one of the chains wrapped around her ankle and thread it over Lila Mercer’s neck.
Her half sister jerked back against her, the knife still lodged in Adrial’s shoulder, but Winnie only held on tighter.
Her hands hurt, the chains pinching the tender skin of her palms, but she wouldn’t let go.
She wouldn’t let this woman take the only person she had left.
Lila’s heels struggled to gain traction against the ice, her legs thrashing as she tried to pry away Winnie’s grip. Time lost meaning, and the killer’s kicks slowed, one after the other.
“Winnie.” Adrial was there. Standing in front of her, a bloodied hand pressed against her face. How had he moved so fast? Or had she spaced out again? “You can let go now.”
She looked down at the unmoving woman pinned to her chest and instantly released the chain burrowing into Lila Mercer’s neck.
The metal hit the ice, but no new cracks surfaced.
Someone was running toward them. Winnie thought she might recognize the woman with the gun raised from Adrial’s office, but she wasn’t sure.
She wasn’t sure of anything right now. Lila slid down her body, collapsing face-first onto the ice. Dead? She couldn’t tell.
“It’s over, Red.” Dragging her into his chest, Adrial pressed his mouth to her forehead in a grounding kiss. “It’s over.”